Monday, September 06, 2010

Fed Court to decide on bizarre case, perhaps today

Fed Court rule reverses Gopal Sri Ram's Court of Appeal's decision. "The disturbing feature of the judgement of the Court of Appeal is that, it had relied on some disputed documents ... how could the Court of Appeal accept and rely upon a document in toto without even considering the issues of its authenticity, when its authenticity had been expressly challenged in the High Court as well as in Court of Appeal ... (?)"

UEM vs Singapore. The Fed Court was supposed to have decided on this intriguing case in January but the lawyer acting for the Singapore company, Genisys, had to go on MC and suddenly we're nearly in the last quarter of the year! Still this is one judgment to wait for. How a Court of Appeal led by Gopal Sri Ram in July 2008 reversed a High Court decisionthat had been in favor of UEM and on top of it ordered the Malaysian GLC to pay its former Singapore partner RM87 million in Malaysian taxpayers' money is something that has spooked many in the Malaysian corporate circle.

The Fed Court's decision today will either put things right or set a precedent that will carry with it broad implications. Of course, in the light of Halim Saad's recent return to the limelight here, the case becomes even more intriguing. Genisys, after all, happened as he was allegedlysqueezed out of Renong-UEM by Nor Mohd Yakcop.